Nishikori, 18, surprises

Japanese joins Ginepri and Querrey in semis

February 16, 2008|By Harvey Fialkov Staff writer

DELRAY BEACH — When Kei Nishikori moved away from his family in Shimane, Japan four years ago to train at Nick Bollettieri's tennis academy in Bradenton the only English he understood was: "how are you" and "hello."

On a picturesque Friday afternoon, Nishikori, an 18-year-old qualifier, introduced himself to American tennis fans with a solid 6-2, 6-4 quarterfinal victory over Massachusetts native Bobby Reynolds to advance to his first career ATP semifinal at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships.

"I was so afraid of everybody," said Nishikori, the first Japanese to reach the semifinals of an ATP event since Shuzo Matsuoka at Beijing in 1995.

"It's tough. I have to play tennis every day by myself. Everyone's very friendly but, still, I get lonely."

Nishikori broke up a rare American stranglehold in the semifinals, where he was later joined by third-seeded Sam Querrey, top-seeded James Blake and unseeded wild card Robby Ginepri, who outlasted a gimpy Mardy Fish 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.

Blake's routine 6-2, 6-4 victory over Russian journeyman Igor Kunitsyn gave the Americans three semifinalists for the third time in this 15-year tournament, and first since Indianapolis in 2006.

Fish, seeded eighth, was hobbled by patella tendonitis, but managed to hang tough against Ginepri, who admittedly had forgotten how to win during a two-year slump that saw his rank drop from 15th in 2005 to 169th.

Ginepri frittered away a 4-1 lead in the third set, but staved off three game points on Fish's serve at 4-5 before converting his first match point with an inside-out forehand.

"It feels good to win," said Ginepri, who is in his first semifinal since Indianapolis in 2006 and first with new coach Jose Higueras. "It's kind of addicting. It's a feeling I haven't had in about a year and a half, so it's nice to be here again."

The wispy 5-foot-10 Nishikori overcame a hustling Reynolds with a mixture of pulverizing forehands and unorthodox jumping backhands.

"Everyone says he has a better backhand, so I play the forehand and he hits 10 winners in the first set," said Reynolds, ranked 111th. :Then I go to the backhand and he hits backhand winners ... He has a lot of talent and a real chance to go up."

Nishikori has gone up - from a ranking of 603 in 2007 to at least 175 this week - and next plays Querrey, a 20-year-old from Los Angeles who has zoomed up the charts to 62nd without the benefit of attending year-round tennis academies.

"Tuesday and Thursday lessons after school," smiled Querrey, who's into his second career semifinal, the first coming at Indianapolis in July 2007. "I didn't get burned out and got to enjoy a normal childhood."